The Dominican Peso (DOP) is the official currency in the Dominican Republic. The symbol for the Peso is $. To distinguish between the US Dollar and the Peso the symbol RD$ is used. The subdivision for the Peso is centavos; 1 peso = 100 centavos.
Economy
The Dominican Republic’s economy is rated 2nd in the Caribbean.
Tourism and agriculture play an important role in the economy.
The tourism industry contributed more than 1 billion USD a year. Recently industry overtook agriculture.
The main industries are textiles, cement, gold mining, tobacco, tourism, and sugar processing.
Export products are meats, gold, sugar, silver, ferronickel, consumer goods, coffee, tobacco, and cocoa.
Import products are fabrics and cotton, chemicals, petroleum, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals.
Inflation is estimated at 6.3% and unemployment at 14.2%.
The country trades mainly with the USA and is a free-trade zone.
History
The Peso was introduced in 1844 after the country gained independence from Haiti.
In 1877, the Peso was subdivided into centavos.
A second currency called the Franco was introduced to the Dominican Republic from 1891 to 1897 and was used as an additional currency.
In 1905, the US Dollar replaced the Peso at 5 Pesos = 1 USD.
In 1937, the Peso Oro was distributed and was used along with the Dollar until 1947.
In 1947, the first Peso banknotes were printed and distributed by the Central Bank.
In 1961, the banknotes were extended to the lower Peso Oro notes.
Since 1992, limited editions of the 2000 and 500 Peso Oro notes have been issued. In 2010 the 20 Peso polymer note was issued.
